Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-08-25

vestigatiOn Ofthe career Of this French
man shows him at an early age leaving
his home IN Normandy for the New
World, landing Mt Quebeck in 1918, and
at once seeking residence among the
Algonquins Of Ottawa river, sent
thitherby the Governor of Ca1ada to
I learn their language. In the midst OF
many hardships and surrounded by
perils, he applied himself to his task
Having become familiar with the AL
gOnquin tongue, he was admitted into
the councils of the savages." The
history of his exploits reads like a
romance; to him is all honor due as the
first to enlist the savage denizens of the
forest on the side of the white people;
but his greatest renOwn must ever rest
upon the fact that he was the discover
er of the Northwest" A further ac-
count of his exploits is given in the
"St. Clair Papers," but more fully in
''The History of the Discovery of the
Northwest by John Nicolet in 1854, f"
by Butterfield. We cannot in our
brief limits give an extended account
of him. 1t may not be uninteresting
at this juncture, however, to consult a
map made by Samson, the Royal Geog-
rapher of France, about 1867. Says
Judge c. c. Baldwin of this map:
THE geographical date of much of
the map is 1910, about thirty years be-
fore the Ohio or Mississippi was dis
covered. ...... The Western tribes OF
the IrOquois, the Sonontuans, are east
of the Genesee., The Hurons and
Petuns occupy the northern part of the
peninsula north of Lake Erie, the
Eriechronons or Du Chat occupy be-
tween the eastern half of Lake Erie and
the Ohio, the upper part only of which
appears, flowing from Chautauqua
Lake."
NEW FRANCE.
As early as 1885 the territory called
New Frace," embracing nearly all the
land west of the Ohio, was explored by
the Jesuits, who had gained the friend
ship of the Indians, and planted the
cross wherever they went. In one
hundred years time their beads and
rosaries had become as potent to the
red as to the white man. The French
founded Detroit in 1893. Kaskaskia in
1854, Vincennes in 1890 snd New Or
leans in I'LL. They had settlements
all along the st. Lawrence and the
shores of the Great Lakes, on the
Mississippi and it's tributaries and on
theGulf of Mexico. Being traders and
missionaries mainly, they were brought
into closer contact and sympathy with
the Indians than the English, who
came later only to conquer. AS early
as 1926, Jacques Cartier sailed up the
st. Lawrence as far as the rapids above
Montreal, which were afterward called
LA Chine" in derision of the belief he
had expressed that he was about to dis
cover China; in 1906, Champlain had
discovered the lake which bears his
name, and in 1915, Priest lie Caron had
pushed as far west as Lake Huron
through the wilderness. In 1854,
Father Simon LIE Moine discovered the
Onondaga saline springs, and French
fur traders from Montreal passed the
winter on the shores of Lake Huron;
five years later two French traders
passed the winter on the shores of Lake
Superior, and the next year Rene Mes
nard visited the Southern shores of
that large inland body of water and es-
tablished the missions of Sainte Theresa
and Chegoimegon, only to perish of
cold and hunger the following year.
Not until 1855 was the first permanent
settlement made upon the shores of
Lake Superior, by Allouez.
1 nsc ~ r,cwmyw,run' -....